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| It is going to be another tight fight in Mid-Ohio |
Coverage
Time: Coverage begins at 4:00 p.m. ET on Sunday July 28th with green flag scheduled for 4:05 p.m. ET.
Channel: NBC
Announcers: Kevin Lee, Townsend Bell and Paul Tracy will be in the booth. Jon Beekhuis, Dillon Welch and Robin Miller will work pit lane.
IndyCar Weekend Schedule
Friday:
First Practice: 11:20 a.m. ET (45 minutes)*
Second Practice: 3:15 p.m. ET (45 minutes)*
Saturday:
Third Practice: 10:30 a.m. ET (45 minutes)*
Qualifying: 2:35 p.m. ET (Live coverage on NBCSN)
Sunday:
Warm-Up: 11:50 a.m. ET (30 minutes)*
Race: 4:05 p.m. ET (85 laps)
* - All practice and qualifying sessions are available live with the NBC Sports Gold IndyCar pass.
IndyCar is celebrating a 12th season of stability with one North American open-wheel series and Mid-Ohio marks the 200th race since reunification was completed.
Through the first 199 races since reunification a total of 25 drivers from 13 different teams have won a race. Leading all drivers is Scott Dixon with 34 victories, one more than Will Power with Ryan Hunter-Reay having won 16 races and Simon Pagenaud and Josef Newgarden each having 14 victories.
Team Penske has won the most races since reunification with 77 victories, 26 more than Chip Ganassi Racing's 51 victories and 45 victories more than Andretti Autosport's 32 victories. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing has won eight races while Ed Carpenter Racing, including its season as CFH Racing, and Schmidt Peterson Motorsports are tied on seven victories.
Andretti Autosport has had the most different drivers win a race since reunification with nine drivers having taken the checkered flag first; Hunter-Reay, Alexander Rossi, James Hinchcliffe, Tony Kanaan, Danica Patrick, Mike Conway, Marco Andretti, Carlos Muñoz and Takuma Sato. Team Penske has had six different winners; Power, Pagenaud, Newgarden, Hélio Castroneves, Ryan Briscoe and Juan Pablo Montoya.
Twelve of the 25 winners over the first 199 races won for multiple teams but three drivers have won driving for three different teams over the last 199 races. Those drivers are Conway, Kanaan and Sato.
The top 12 drivers in victories have all won on a road course and an oval with the driver with the most victories without an oval victory being Conway, who won four times, and the driver with the most victories without a road or street course victory being Kanaan, who won four times.
Nine of the 11 teams on the grid this weekend have won once in the first 199 races post-reunification with the two teams having yet to win a race being two of the newer teams on the grid, Carlin and Meyer Shank Racing.
Meyer Shank Racing is back for its eighth of ten races this season with Jack Harvey in the #60 Honda. Max Chilton will be back in the #59 Chevrolet after sitting out Iowa while R.C. Enerson returns to IndyCar competition for the first time since 2016 in the #31 Chevrolet. Enerson made his IndyCar debut at Mid-Ohio in 2016. Harvey and Enerson each won in Indy Lights at the track with Harvey swept the 2014 doubleheader and Enerson winning the first race in 2015.
Newgarden vs. Rossi - Tale of the Tape
Josef Newgarden's 14th IndyCar victory at Iowa last week increased his championship lead to 29 points over Alexander Rossi. It was a night of pure domination from Newgarden while Rossi could not get much higher than fourth on the night and ultimately settled for a sixth place finish.
These two drivers have won the last two years at Mid-Ohio and both drivers won in convincing fashion. Newgarden led 73 of 90 laps and won by 5.156 seconds over Will Power. Rossi led 66 of 90 laps last year from pole position on his way to a 12.829-second victory over Robert Wickens.
While both drivers have won at Mid-Ohio in a similar fashion, most of their victories do not look alike.
Newgarden's victories have tend to come after a bit of strategy and timeliness. At least six of Newgarden's 14 victories have seen pit strategy come significantly into play.
His second career victory came at Toronto in 2015 and that race came after making a pit stop before James Jakes brought out a caution. The likes of Will Power and Hélio Castroneves had not made their pit stops and were shuffled down the order when they did stop under yellow and this led to a Newgarden victory. Two years later, at the same venue, Newgarden made a pit stop before Tony Kanaan had an accident in turn one while leader Castroneves had yet to stop. Newgarden inherited the lead under the caution and proceeded to led 58 of the final 61 laps.
Last year at Phoenix, Newgarden stopped under the final caution from the lead to take fresh tires and proceeded to run down Robert Wickens and James Hinchcliffe to win the race.
Three of Newgarden's four victories this year saw timely pit strategy lead to a victory. Newgarden made his pit stop and proceeded to erase the pit delta and flip the track position so when Felix Rosenqvist made his pit stop Newgarden would be ahead of the Swede.
Belle Isle saw Newgarden on pit lane when Ed Jones ended up in the turn seven tire barrier while Rossi and Scott Dixon had yet to stop in the timed-race. Newgarden cycled to the lead and on a drying track he held off Rossi to take the victory.
At Texas, Newgarden made his third pit stop under caution knowing it would be a four-stop race. While the rest of the field made their third stops under green flag conditions, Newgarden stayed out and ran fast enough lap times so Newgarden could make his final pit stop later than the rest of the field and still get out ahead of the rest of the field. While a caution did bunch up the field, Newgarden held off Rossi for a second time in as many weeks for a victory.
Rossi has won seven races in 62 starts and six of those victories have come from one of the first three spots on the grid. The lone exception is his Indianapolis 500 victory from 11th on the grid. None of Rossi's last four victories have had more than two cautions and two of those victories have come in caution-free races but the other two victories have had more than the final 94% of the race take place under green flag conditions. His Pocono victory occurred in a race where the final 94.5% of the race was under green flag conditions and his victory at Long Beach in April saw the final 96.47% of the race take place under green flag conditions.
Outside of Rossi's Indianapolis 500 victory, he has led at least 73% of all the laps in all six of his victories while four of Newgarden's 14 victories have seen him lead less than 40% of a race. Eight of Newgarden's 14 victories have come within the top three spots on the grid but he has four victories from seventh on the grid and, like Rossi, Newgarden's worst starting position for a victory is 11th.
Entering Mid-Ohio, Newgarden has finished ahead of Rossi in seven of 12 races in 2019 but the notable thing is the difference in positions between the two drivers in the races where Newgarden has finished ahead of Rossi. In the seven races Newgarden has finished the better of the two drivers, Newgarden has finished at least five positions ahead of Rossi in three of them including seven positions ahead of him at Austin and the Grand Prix of Indianapolis.
In the five races Rossi has finished better than Newgarden, the gap has been two spots or fewer in four of the races with Newgarden finishing second to Rossi at Long Beach, Newgarden finishing fourth to Rossi's second in the Indianapolis 500, third to Rossi's victory at Road America and fourth while Rossi was third at Toronto. The only time the gap has been greater than two spots was the second Belle Isle race, where Newgarden retired and was classified in 19th while Rossi finished fourth.
On paper, Mid-Ohio is advantage Rossi, not just because of his victory last year, but because in three starts Rossi has an average finish of 7.0 compared to Newgarden's average finish of 10.7 and Newgarden has only three top ten finishes in seven starts at the track while Rossi finished sixth in the 2017 race to add to his victory last year.
Scott Dixon's Lost Playground
There was a time when Scott Dixon was penciled as the winner of Mid-Ohio but that move is not as comfortable as it once was.
To be fair, Dixon is still king of the Buckeye State track. Dixon has five victories, most all-time at the track and he also has ten top five finishes and 12 top ten finishes, most all-time in those respective categories. He has led 223 laps, second most all-time, only 23 laps behind Michael Andretti for that record.
Dixon's dominance is what makes his current period of good results seem so poor. He has not won in his last four Mid-Ohio starts, his longest drought at the track. He has not led in the last three Iowa races, his longest drought at the track. He has not started in the top five in the last three Mid-Ohio races, one off his worst streak.
Dixon's sixth victory would come at an important time for him with the New Zealander trailing Newgarden by 98 points. Dixon is coming off back-to-back runner-up finishes for the first time since 2017 and he has seven podium finishes this season. Dixon already had three consecutive podium finishes earlier this season when he finished second, third and second at Barber, Long Beach and the Grand Prix of Indianapolis respectively.
Can Anyone Make it a Five-Horse Race?
Fewer than 100 points cover the top four drivers in the IndyCar championship with five races remaining but at 98 points behind Newgarden, Dixon will have to do some work to get within 94 points, which will be the largest possible gap to overcome in the season finale with 25 cars tentatively set for the double points season finale. If Dixon has some work to do then the rest of the field has a monumental hill to climb.
Will Power has finished outside the top ten in the last two races and in five of 12 races this season and that sees Power 165 points behind his teammate Newgarden. Power has not won a race this season and he has only three podium finishes this season. He has not won a pole position since Austin in March. Power has made ten starts at Mid-Ohio and he has completed all 880 laps at the track but he has never won at the track despite having five podium finishes and seven top five finishes in ten starts. He has led 113 laps at the track, ninth all-time at the track.
Takuma Sato is 176 points behind Newgarden and since he had back-to-back third place finishes at Indianapolis and Belle Isle his best finish was tenth at Road America with an average finish of 16th over the last five races.
Sato is not the only driver in a rough patch as Ryan Hunter-Reay has finished outside the top ten in the last three races and each result has been worse. Hunter-Reay was 11th at Road America, 16th at Toronto and 17th at Iowa. Hunter-Reay finds himself 189 points off Newgarden.
Graham Rahal heads home looking to repeat his 2015 triumph but he is going to need more than a race victory to get himself back into the championship discussion. Rahal is 197 points behind Newgarden and he enters off the back of six consecutive top ten finishes but he has not had a podium finish on a natural-terrain road course since he finished third at Mid-Ohio in 2017.
James Hinchcliffe needs a Hail Mary with the Canadian trailing Newgarden by 208 points. Hinchcliffe is going to Mid-Ohio off a third place finish at Iowa, his first podium finish of the season and his first top five finish of the season. Hinchcliffe does have three consecutive top ten finishes.
Road to Indy
It will be another full weekend of action at the track with all three Road to Indy series holding a doubleheader alongside IndyCar.
Indy Lights has another nine-car grid entered and after a runner-up finish and a victory in Toronto, Oliver Askew leads Rinus VeeKay by 15 points in the championship with seven races to go. VeeKay made contact with Aaron Telitz while battling for the lead in the second Toronto race, allowing Askew to slip pass both of them and VeeKay finished last after losing four laps for repairs.
Ryan Norman has five consecutive top five finishes and the Ohioan is third in the championship on 222 points, 63 points behind his Andretti Autosport teammate Askew and four points ahead of his other Andretti Autosport teammate Robert Megennis. Megennis has only two top five finishes in the last five races. Toby Sowery picked up his second runner-up finish of the season in the second Toronto race and he rounds out the top five on 213 points.
David Malukas is 110 points back in sixth, Dalton Kellett had a third place finish in the second Toronto race and he is 122 points back in seventh and Lucas Kohl is eighth on 150 points. Telitz won the first Toronto race and finished sixth in the second race after his contact with VeeKay.
Askew won a Mid-Ohio U.S. F2000 race in 2017 but he finished sixth and third last year in the Pro Mazda races, which VeeKay swept. Megannis was on the podium in both Pro Mazda races here last year with finishes of third and second. Norman had a third place finish here in the second Indy Lights race while Kellett was third in the first race. Telitz has never won at Mid-Ohio in 12 Road to Indy series starts and his best finish in Indy Lights at the track is fifth.
Indy Lights will run at 1:25 p.m. ET on Saturday July 27th and at 12:50 p.m. ET on Sunday July 28th.
The Indy Pro 2000 Series championship is looking like a four-horse race with seven races to go.
Despite not picking up a victory at Toronto and not winning a race since the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in May, Rasmus Lindh increased his lead in Canada with the Swede on 235 points. Lindh finished on the podium in both races and he picked up fastest lap in race two. Parker Thompson was also on the podium in both Toronto races but he finds himself 28 points behind Lindh.
Kyle Kirkwood won the second Toronto race but he had a missed opportunity in race one, where he started on pole position but contact from teammate Ian Rodríguez caused damaged and forced Kirkwood to pit. He could only recover to an eighth place finish. He is now 31 points back of Lindh. Daniel Frost won the first Toronto race and he was fourth in the second race and Frost is 33 points off Lindh.
Kirkwood swept the U.S. F2000 races at Mid-Ohio last year with Lindh finishing fourth and third in those respective races. Thompson has ten starts at Mid-Ohio across the Road to Indy series. He won there in U.S. F2000 in 2017 but last year he finished fifth and sixth in the Pro Mazda races.
There will be 14 cars at Mid-Ohio. Sting Ray Robb is comfortably in fourth on 173 points with Nikita Lastochkin rounding out the top five on 137 points. Phillippe Denes sits on 118 points, two points ahead of Kory Enders and Enders is two points ahead of Moisés de la Vara. Jacob Abel rounds out the top ten on 106 points, one ahead of Antonio Serravalle and Rodríguez is 12th on 93 points.
Indy Pro 2000's first race will be at 5:00 p.m. ET on Saturday July 27th and at 10:00 a.m. ET on Sunday July 28th.
Braden Eves is coming off his worst weekend of the season in U.S. F2000 but the good news is his championship rival Hunter McElrea didn't have much better of an outing in Canada. McElrea was third in race one, a spot ahead of Eves but in race two both drivers had problems with Eves throwing away a top five finish after contact in turn one with Colin Kamiskey but McElrea had his own contact with the barrier while in the top five and it forced McElrea to make repairs and finish two laps down. Eves ended up gaining points on McElrea in race two and Eves holds a 41-point championship lead over the New Zealander.
Darren Keane was the big winner from Toronto, as he won the first race and finished second in the second race and Keane is now third in the championship on 180 points, 53 points behind his Cape Motorsport teammate Eves. Kaminsky is fourth in the championship, 78 points behind Eves with Christian Rasmussen, who finished second in race one and picked up his first career victory in race two from Toronto, rounding out the top five on 141 points, 92 points behind Eves.
Manuel Sulaimán has dropped to sixth in the championship on 138 points with Indianapolis Raceway Park winner Cameron Shields in seventh on 137 points.
Eighteen cars are entered for Mid-Ohio and American drivers Reece Gold, Jak Crawford, Yuven Sundaramoorthy, Zach Holden and Nolan Siegel all looking for promising results.
The first race for U.S. F2000 will take place at 4:05 p.m. ET on Saturday July 27th with the second race scheduled for 11:05 a.m. ET on Sunday July 28th.
Fast Facts
This will be the 13th IndyCar race to take place on July 28th and first since 2002 when there were two races with Dario Franchitti winning the CART race from Vancouver and Tomas Scheckter won at Michigan in a 1-2 finish with Cheever Racing with Buddy Rice finishing second.
This year's Mid-Ohio race falls on the 34th anniversary of Emerson Fittipaldi's first career IndyCar victory, which came at Michigan. Fittipaldi has three Mid-Ohio victories, second all-time to Scott Dixon.
Alexander Rossi could become the eighth different driver to win consecutive Mid-Ohio races joining Bobby Rahal, Michael Andretti, Emerson Fittipaldi, Al Unser, Jr., Alex Zanardi, Hélio Castroneves and Scott Dixon.
American drivers have won the last two Mid-Ohio races, three of the last four Mid-Ohio races and four of the last six Mid-Ohio races. Prior to this six-year period, American drivers had not won any of the prior 14 Mid-Ohio races.
The only time American drivers have won three consecutive Mid-Ohio races was from 1984 to 1986 when Mario Andretti won and Bobby Rahal won in consecutive seasons.
Team Penske has never won an IndyCar race on July 28th.
The top five drivers from the 2015 Indy Lights championship are all competing this weekend in the IndyCar race at Mid-Ohio. Those drivers are Spencer Pigot, Jack Harvey, Ed Jones, RC Enerson and Max Chilton.
The average starting position for a Mid-Ohio winner is 3.558 with a median position of second.
Only twice has Mid-Ohio been won from outside the top ten. Scott Dixon won from 22nd in 2014 and Graham Rahal won from 13th in 2015.
The only other Mid-Ohio race since it returned to the schedule in 2007 to have a winner start outside the top five was 2007 when Scott Dixon won from sixth on the grid.
The driver to lead the most laps has won eight of the last 12 Mid-Ohio races.
The average number of lead changes in a Mid-Ohio race is 4.647 with a median of five.
Only two of the last 12 Mid-Ohio races have had fewer than five lead changes. The 2010 race had only four lead changes and the 2012 race had only two lead changes.
There has been at least one lead change in every Mid-Ohio race.
The average number of cautions in a Mid-Ohio race is 1.939 and the median is two. The average number of caution laps is 7.843 with a median of 8.5.
Three of the seven Mid-Ohio races in the DW12-era have been caution-free.
Only one of the last seven Mid-Ohio races has had more than two cautions. The 2015 race had four cautions.
Possible Milestones:
Will Power needs to lead seven laps to reach the 4,000 laps led milestone.
Sébastien Bourdais needs to lead 48 laps to reach the 2,700 laps led milestone.
Josef Newgarden needs to lead 18 laps to reach the 2,000 laps led milestone.
Ryan Hunter-Reay needs to lead 55 laps to reach the 1,600 laps led milestone.
James Hinchcliffe needs to lead 44 laps to reach the 800 laps led milestone.
Takuma Sato needs to lead 53 laps to reach the 700 laps led milestone.
Graham Rahal needs to lead 15 laps to reach the 400 laps led milestone.
Predictions
Scott Dixon gets back on the top step of the podium and Alexander Rossi will take points out of Josef Newgarden championship lead. One Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing car finishes in the top five. Two rookies finish in the top ten. Max Chilton does not get a drive-through penalty. RC Enerson does not stall during a pit stop. Jack Harvey will be the best finisher of the Indy Lights class of 2015. Neither Foyt car starts in the top fifteen but one Foyt car will finish in the top fifteen. At least two drivers that have not finished in the top ten in their last three starts will end that slide. Sleeper: Ed Jones.
